Dive Brief:
- Kroger announced Friday that it is hosting several events throughout September focused on health and wellness.
- Stores will hold wellness-focused in-store activations every Friday and Saturday throughout the month. Kroger lists the participating locations online.
- Kroger will also host community festivals at stores in the greater Houston, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Nashville, Tennessee, areas.
Dive Insight:
Kroger bills these efforts as part of a “Wellness Tour” as it works to closely link food purchases with healthy living and at a time when the grocery industry is seeing rising GLP-1 usage influence shopping behaviors.
“Kroger touches millions of families every day,” Colleen Lindholz, president of Kroger Health, said in the announcement. “The Wellness Tour is about using that reach to meet customers where they are and make it easier to take one step toward better health.”
At the in-store weekend events, customers can sample better-for-you products, learn about the grocer’s OptUP Picks, and connect with pharmacists and dietitians.
The “mini-fests” in the four metropolitan areas will include product sampling, wellness workshops, live cooking demonstrations, fitness activations, giveaways, coupons and community engagement opportunities. The first event kicks off on Saturday at a Kroger store in Clarksville, Tennessee, followed by one at a Kroger store in Montgomery, Texas, on Sept. 12. Fry’s will host the Phoenix area festival on Sept. 19 at a store in Gilbert, Arizona. The last one for the month will take place at a Smith's Store in West Jordan, Utah, on Sept. 26.
In prior years, Kroger hosted a free Wellness Festival in downtown Cincinnati, the city where the grocer is headquartered. Last year, singer Jewel and a festival company sued Kroger, alleging the grocer cut them out of the partnership that launched the annual Kroger Wellness Festival.
Despite grappling with headwinds from changes in how the federal government pays for certain prescription drugs, Kroger’s pharmacy business “continues to do well” as GLP-1 sales grow, CFO David Kennerley told investors in June on the grocer’s most recent earnings call.
